One of the big hits in our family of the summer just gone (and I’m sure will be for many summers to come) was our Intex 10ft Frame pool that we finally set up at the end of spring. You see, we’d actually bought this pool the previous year, but due to all our building work that was being carried out, we never had a working garden to get it set up in before the kids went back to school that September- but we certainly made up for lost time last summer!
I’d always fancied the idea of a swimming pool (don’t we all!), but size of garden and the cost of running this made it prohibitive, so a frame pool that we could put up and then dismantle at the end of the summer season seemed to be the next best option. A few of our kids’ friends also had an Intex 10ft frame pool (or one of a similar ilk), so we knew from speaking to the families that they generally worked well in your average garden. With such hot summers in recent years, we thought it would be ideal to have one of these pools and be able to dip in and out as we pleased.
But is owning an Intex 10ft frame pool all it’s cracked up to be?
I thought I’d run through our experience and some of the pros and cons…
So, what is an Intex frame pool?
Designed to be sturdy and easy to assemble and maintain, Intex’s frame pools are above ground pools, that are a cross between a fixed-in-place, above-ground swimming pool and a temporary swimming pool that you can put up and down to suit your lifestyle and space. The pool is made of a 3-ply, durable, puncture resistant liner that is held up by a rust-resistant frame, and you can buy one with or without a cleaning filter pump (trust me, you will want this- more on this later- although all Intex pools come standard with filtration and tubing so one could be added later).
Getting started
Whilst Intex pools are designed to be a flexible, fun new family member that you can take down and move around, realistically you’ll assemble it and maintain it in the same place for an extended period of time. It is NOT like a paddling pool where you can easily fill and refill each day if necessary – in my opinion once this bad boy is up, you’re in it for the summer long haul. With this in mind, you should consider where the pool is going to go in your garden. We are fortunate enough to have inherited artificial grass, meaning that we had no danger of sacrificing actual grass in order to put the pool down. A patio or decking area would be a good option, but as the bottom of the pool isn’t remotely padded, I would recommend purchasing some padded matting (like the kind you get to put down in garages, or for babies to crawl on) to put underneath the pool. We bought some from Amazon after measuring up. Buying this will save your knees in the pool, and make playing and swimming in it a much more enjoyable experience! You can reduce the costs of your pool extras however, with Amazon voucher codes. Save on pool covers and accessories when you shop with online voucher codes.
Assembling the pool was easy-peasy, really simple and pretty quick too, however filling up the pool took literally HOURS with the hose, so allow plenty of time to do this i.e. if you have a pool party planned, definitely set up and fill the day before, otherwise you will be STRESSED. Make sure the pool is also on flat ground (v important). Instructions for setting up the pump and filters were also straightforward – it just took a bit getting used to what seemed to be the correct ‘pump strength’ and whether or not this was satisfactory and we were doing the right thing.
Pros of the Intex 10ft Frame pool
Fun- it is SO much fun! And just perfect for heatwaves and lounging around in, or just simply for a quick dip to cool off. We paid about £180 for our pool, although the price does seem to fluctuate, and it was definitely worth it as someone (we have 3 kids) was in the pool every single say.
10ft is a great size- not so big that it took up the whole garden, but big enough to properly play in and have floaties, and even our little one could properly swim widths in it. It was big enough for us adults too, and we could both happily float about on a lilo with plenty of room to spare.
The pool is easy to assemble, and also didn’t need totally refilling (bar water top ups) for the entire summer HOWEVER (and I’ll get to my cons in a minute) that was only because it was cared for so well by my husband, who became slightly obsessed with pool cleans, filters, chlorine… if you neglect it for a second like a few people we know did, then it will go green and unusable very quickly. This really is a summer hobby, people!
Cons of the Intex 10ft Frame pool
The only major con would be the heavy-duty care as I mentioned above, and also one of the other cons of having to care well for your pool is the additional expense of the extra bits. I’d hazard a guess that we spent a good few hundred pounds on the extras for the pool- the pool cover, steps (both of these a must-have in my opinion), floating chemical dispenser, a better pump and filter, pool hoover and net, chemicals and PH balancer… all of which I’ve linked to here. Having said that, once you have most of these then you shouldn’t need to get them again, apart from new filters, and I’m envisaging this pool being a part of the family each summer for a long time!
Another tip I’ll give is that whilst the Intex 10ft frame pool comes with smaller pump for the it that should work well, we found it didn’t really cut it when it came to keeping the water clear and non-murky, so my husband ended up a buying a bit of a beast of a pump that did the job much better. We also had a few issues with the pool cover, as we wanted some safety clips to go with it so if the cat jumped on the cover then he wouldn’t fall through, but these ended up melted and became misshaped in our, admittedly, extreme heat. Thankfully we managed to bend them back and make them work (and one happy cat, below!)
Overall, despite the maintenance involved, I’ve found this pool pretty good value for money and very durable. It’s survived a million kids hopping in and out of over several months, and looks in just as good condition as it did the day we set it up. I’m also impressed that despite being in the sun all day, there is zero fading, which helps keep that box-fresh look.
I would definitely buy again, and we’re looking forward to getting it all set up again this coming spring!
See some more of my review posts here!
